Governance

We keep our goal of reducing our carbon footprint in mind when planning and operating our data centers. To achieve this goal, we take a two-step approach. It starts with optimizing energy consumption at each data center site and then continues with improving processes throughout the global data center landscape.

Our aim is to increase the share of renewable energy on a yearly basis. Therefore our reported target is to increase our share in comparison to the previous year.

As a large corporation, Telekom assumes responsibility for environmental protection. Uniform environmental standards ensure that resource-saving behavior is anchored in all processes and in the daily behavior of employees. To this end, the Group has implemented an HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) management system in all fully consolidated companies.
There are internationally recognized standards for environmental protection in companies, such as the ISO standards (standards of the International Organization for Standardization, ISO for short). These form the basis for environmental management at Telekom. This ensures that environmental policy is implemented uniformly throughout the Group.

Telekom in Germany has been working in accordance with the international standard ISO 14001 for environmental management systems since 1998. Compliance with the ISO standard enables, among other things, resources to be used more efficiently, energy to be saved and waste to be avoided. Employees help to further increase environmental friendliness with their own suggestions.

Telekom's commitment goes far beyond the issue of climate protection: Since 2010, a uniform Group-wide HSE management system has been in place. HSE stands for the three main topics of health, safety and environment. The international standards for occupational health and safety, environmental management and quality management serve as the basis for this.
Employees and experts from all Deutsche Telekom national companies regularly exchange information and jointly develop a comprehensive management system. Internal and external audits are conducted regularly to verify that the requirements of the HSE management system are consistently implemented in the company's day-to-day operations.

Here you can find the manual for our central Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSE MS) of Deutsche Telekom Group. This means that it covers 100% of all Deutsche Telekom units.

How can international corporations put sustainability strategies into practice across borders? Deutsche Telekom employs CR managers for the relevant business segments and national companies to reach this goal. They use the CR Manager Network to regularly share best practices and discuss new challenges, thereby jointly promoting essential CR issues. The central Group Corporate Responsibility (GCR) department is responsible for managing the network. In the year 2021, the CR Manager Network encompassed more than 100 CR Manager from 34 subsidiaries based in 20 countries across the globe. 

The participants are regularly invited to virtual meetings and capacity building calls by Group Corporate Responsibility. In 2021, content and likely implications of the EU Green Deal were discussed as well as progress within the #GreenMagenta programs and the new strategic stream "Positive impact on society" defined by the EU segment. Furthermore, the network members could gain insights into issues like Impact measurement and the future of a greener mobility.